James Wright is the chief financial officer (CFO) for The Butcher Block, a major steakhouse restaurant chain. As CFO, James has the final responsibility for all aspects of financial reporting. James tells investors that The Butcher Block should post earnings of at least $1 million.

In examining the preliminary year-end numbers, James notices that earnings are coming in at $950,000. He also is aware that The Butcher Block has been depreciating most of its restaurant equipment over a five-year useful life. He proposes to change the estimated useful life for a subset of the equipment to a useful life of seven, rather than five, years. By depreciating over a longer useful life, depreciation expense will be lower in the current year, increasing earnings to just over $1 million. It looks like The Butcher Block is going to exceed earnings of $1 million after all.

Do you think James Wright’s change in the depreciable life of assets is ethical? What concerns might you have?